Liverpool, June 2 (Reuters): Paul McCartney got back to where he once belonged, wrapping up his world tour with an emotion-charged concert in the birthplace of the Beatles.

From the moment he tore into the Beatles back catalogue in Liverpool, 35,000 people leapt to their feet and clapped in unison. For ardent Beatle fans, McCartney was replaying the soundtrack of their lives and they sang along to every number.

“It’s great to be home,” he said, launching into All My Loving that was played out against a nostalgic video backdrop of newsreel footage of Sixties Beatlemania.

Since launching his tour in Oakland, California, in April 2002, the indefatigable McCartney has played to two million people around the globe, from Mexico to Japan. He performed in Moscow’s Red Square and brought rock’’ roll to Rome’s Colosseum for the first time. But yesterday, the message waved to McCartney on thousands of heart-shaped banners said it all: “Home is where the heart is.”

Fishy fable

Los Angeles (Reuters): North American moviegoers have fallen hook, line and sinker for the fishy fable Finding Nemo, which has sold about $70.6 million worth of tickets in its first three days, according to studio estimates. The computer-animated family movie, about an anxious clown fish who seeks to rescue his plucky son from an office aquarium, set a new opening record for a cartoon, surpassing the success of Monsters, Inc. in November 2001. Both films were produced by Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios Inc., whose partnership has now resulted in five consecutive number one blockbusters, dating back to their first collaboration, 1995’s Toy Story. Nemo sent the Jim Carrey comedy Bruce Almighty to the number two slot.

Spidery skill

London (Reuters): Move over Spider-Man — mere mortals may soon be coming to a ceiling near you. Researchers at the University of Manchester say they have cracked the secret of one of the reptile world’s greatest climbers, the gecko, and produced a sticky tape that can mimic the lizard’s gravity-defying abilities. Soon, people could walk on walls like comic-book superhero Spider-Man, the university said. “The new adhesive — gecko tape — contains billions of tiny plastic fibres which are similar to natural hair covering the soles of geckos’ feet,” the university said in a statement. “The research team believes it won’t be long before Spider-Man gloves become a reality.” Bob Full, a biology professor at the University of California at Berkeley in the United States, who was also involved, said the technology could be used for handling computer chips and could have applications in medicine.